Navigate:

May 29, 2007

Categories:

Hillary takes a rare, direct shot at a rival, here in a statement from policy director Neera Tanden:

"We commend Senator Obama for entering the healthcare debate and supporting incentives to make healthcare more affordable; Senator Clinton has long fought to expand healthcare coverage and initiated the State Children’s Health Insurance Program that now covers 6 million children and has led the fight in the Senate to pass health information technology.

"Senator Clinton believes that in addition to making healthcare more accessible, we have to achieve true universal healthcare so that every American has health care coverage."

In other words, "That was my idea first, and it's not any good anyway." Or something. In any case, there's clearly some blood being smelled.

Also, Ezra Klein has (already) got a lot of what seems like fair-minded analysis out, including this point: "The Obama plan will not bring us to 100 percent coverage in the short-term. It just won't. But it will take us much further along the road, ensure full coverage for all children, and create a system in which mandates could be more easily added later on."

And, as Minipundit sort of notes, the elements of the Obama plan that are being critcized -- its limits -- may also make it more economical, easier to pass and pay for, in theory.

Share this Article

Reader Comments (9)

Pages

1

In the real world, no one truly believes that it is possible for every single American to have health care coverage. It just isn't possible. I commend him (as noted by Ezra Klein, etc) on developing a workable plan that covers most of us and affordable (imagine that). So far, he has my vote.

Not only is the Obama plan more sensible...it's bold enough to make a difference, yet realistic enough to get passed...but Obama holds one more huge advantage over Hillary on this and every other issue: Obama will be able to actually get things passed through Congress.
If Hillary were elected, she is so polarizing, so disliked, that she will not be capable of getting anything done. Nada. Zip. Republicans will be able to make their entire career just opposing her, that's how unpopular she is. Plus, if there is any issue where she is branded negatively, it's on healthcare. She won't be able to get a thing done.
Obama on the other hand, is the type of individual who can bring people together and achieve results. He is also the type of person with the individual charisma and likability to rally the people to his side, which again, is crucial to getting something this ambitious passed.
So no matter whose plan you favor, the reality is that if you want progress on healthcare, Obama will get that done for you, Hillary doesn't stand a chance.
Obama is our next president. No doubt about it.

Here's the real choice: take Obama, get real healthcare reform accomplished, and a thoughtful, conscientious trustworthy president.
Take Hillary and get a totally untrustworthy president, who is as power hungry as Nixon, and who is so polarizing as to not get anything accomplished.
Obama will be our next president. Hillary's campaign implodes.

"Also, a bad headline in Iowa: "Obama: Universal Healthcare Not Universal."
(UPDATE: Headline has been changed.)"
http://www.iowavotes2008.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=834&Itemid=37
No it hasn't.

"In the real world, no one truly believes that it is possible for every single American to have health care coverage. It just isn't possible. I commend him (as noted by Ezra Klein, etc) on developing a workable plan that covers most of us and affordable (imagine that). So far, he has my vote."
So it's not the smallness of our politics but the bigness of our ideas that's the problem?
Also, why is it impossible? If every other industrialized nation on earth can do it, why can't we? Isn't that Obama's message?

The Obama plan must be good, because it sure has a lot of people talking about it. That to me signals that it's viable from all sides of the political spectrum.
The Obama plan is a huge step forward, but it's also doable. That's key: politics is the art of the possible.
The quality of the plan coupled with Obama's gift for unifying people around a common cause would guarantee passage. That's far more than one would get with Hillary, which is a big fat nothing. From her propensity to sell out to her polarizing impact, she would be the one candidate guaranteed for failure.
Start learning to enjoy saying "President Obama."

Though I like Obama a lot, I still think that John Edwards takes the cake on the Health Care plan. Not only is it the most comprehensive, but it is the most achievable. Hillary, on the other hand will fail just as she did in '93.
cheers.

So far, the best comments here are the spam. Commenter--that "would guarantee passage" bit is just too funny. Yes, never mind the insane politics of health care reform, with Obama's sweet personality and his engaging sincerety, it's a lock. Feel free, of course, to cheer on your candidate, but please pay the occasional visit to planet earth before commenting.
And people have been waiting for Hillary to implode for a long time now, so feel free to keep on waiting.